Spend on players or a buyout?
That's the decision a number of college basketball programs face entering the final weeks of the regular season, with sources telling ESPN that athletic directors and school presidents at several high-major schools are torn between keeping their current head coach to increase the NIL budget for next season or making a coaching change.
The carousel has already started spinning with positions at five Power 5 programs open following the retirements of Virginia's Tony Bennett and Miami's Jim Larranaga; announcements from Florida State's Leonard Hamilton and Indiana's Mike Woodson that they'll step down at the end of the season; and the firing of Utah's Craig Smith on Monday.
Are those signs of a busy cycle? The aforementioned quandary will dictate the speed at which the carousel turns, but other variables at play are the transfer portal, NIL and the looming House vs. NCAA settlement. Some programs will look to speed up their timelines and get a coach in before the portal opens, while seemingly comfortable coaches could look to move on their own to land at a school with more spending power.
To prepare you for the next two months of coaching machinations and the accompanying rumors -- of which there will be many -- let's take a look at the biggest jobs and names to watch on the 2025 men's college basketball carousel.
Keep an eye out for our coverage of the next crop of mid-major coaches ready to make the jump next week.
Note: ESPN's Pete Thamel contributed reporting.
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Jobs already open | Jobs that could open | Jobs unlikely to open | Non-power programs to watch | Potential retirements to monitor | High-profile candidates to keep an eye on
Jobs already open
As soon as Mike Woodson stepped down, the perception was that Indiana would first pursue Brad Stevens and Dusty May. Not long after, Stevens publicly distanced himself from the job and May signed a new contract at Michigan.
So where do the Hoosiers turn next? There has been talk since the early days of the search that they could target UCLA's Mick Cronin and Baylor's Scott Drew, although Cronin has an eight-figure buyout and Drew turned down Kentucky and Louisville last year.
One potentially intriguing option is Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger, who recently signed a contract extension that lowered his buyout from north of $15 million to around $4 million. Whether he is interested in leaving Ames for Bloomington is a different question, but he's arguably the best viable candidate who doesn't have a steep buyout. Should Otzelberger decline and Indiana opt not to spend $10 million to $15 million to buy out a coach's contract, this search could move on to a tier that includes the likes of Texas A&M's Buzz Williams and Creighton's Greg McDermott.
This one is clearly trending in the direction of Duke assistant Jai Lucas. As reported Saturday, Lucas has emerged as the focus of Miami's search and the two sides have been in talks. The job had not been formally offered as of reporting over the weekend, but it's clear Lucas is the top target, and the deal should progress on a more traditional timeline.